Splish Splash

The duck pond is finally, truly underway! We started it last year, but we didn't dig out enough, didn't have the liner and it turned into a day spa for the chickens. They loved their huge, safe hole for dust baths, but it was time to reclaim the area and get the true pond built. Having the tractor, again, proved to be a great investment. Tragdor did an incredible job, running wide open for 2 days she used about 3 gallons of diesel.

We purchased a 23'x26' 35 oz vinyl tarp from a company that sells billboard vinyl. We had planned to go with recycled, but the size and cost worked out for one of their new ones. That thing is heavy! We estimated it would allow for a pond about 9'x12' that would be 5' in depth. However, those estimates assumed a rectangular shape and we ended up with more of an oval. Our final size is 15'x12' with a depth of 6' in the middle and a sloping edge. We have two preformed ponds that will also be added, but our plan is to keep the ducks from those and try to raise fry in them for the larger pond or for us to eat. I found the preformed ponds on Craigslist for $175, the tarp was $315 delivered and we had 4 yards of crushed stone delivered for $400. I won't even attempt to calculate the cost/worth of Tragdor, but since her monthly payment fits well enough into our monthly budget I'll consider it a wash. The water cost is negligible since it's coming from our well. Our electricity bill won't peak from running the central air during the dog days of summer so, again, the cost is mostly a wash.

So, for just under $1000 we'll have a big pond that will, hopefully, support 5 ducks. My mother-in-law and father-in-law were visiting and it was great to have their expertise and experience to help us lay things out, run the tractor and amazingly get the liner installed in just 2 days!

I also got to learn a little about chain link gates, as we put one together for the pen. Up to now we had a makeshift gate from hardware cloth and 2x4s. I didn't realize how crummy it looked until we installed the chain link gate and put some gravel under the entry way. I'm especially excited because I plan to use this new skill to install a small gate into the garden once I build that fence. I've learned to build a fence with 2x4s, 4x4s, and hardware cloth and now I know how to add a chain link gate too!

In the midst of all the construction, the ducks and turkeys got their first outdoor adventure! We set up a small fenced area with a kiddie pool and some bird netting to serve as hawk protection. The ducks took a while to actually get into the pool even with some steps to make it easier for them. They loved the grass and the turkeys loved bug hunting. I'm amazed at the turkey's hunting success!






The other project I completed last week was installing the hammock. I bought the hammock last November when we vacationed in the Keys for a week with family, and got it up just in time for the birthday celebration.


I had some guidance, but in the end I got the entire thing up on my own. I used wire rope clips, which I didn't even know existed. Thanks to youtube videos I figured it out, and oddly enough I used those wire clips twice - once for the hammock and the chain link gate needed one too! I tossed a half brick over the limb with string attached. I used that to hoist the wire rope over the limb. I didn't have a way to trim the wire rope so that's where the clips came in handy. I made two loops, which aside from making it secure for almost 2,000lbs wasn't really necessary. I'm not exactly mechanically inclined or have much building experience so I was extremely happy to find it was positioned well and was enticing people into napping in it and sitting outside! We have a number of large trees on the property that would benefit from these kinds of hammocks. Unfortunately, I can't get the brick over a branch much higher than this one so I'll need some kind of help or other plan going forward.

Next on the list is finishing up the duck pond so we can move them out to the chicken coop permanently. As it stands, the pond is full and the liner has settled nicely. It seems the next step is to back fill a bit, install the edgers and the crush stone. The preformed ponds don't need to be installed before the ducks move in, which is good because they emptied their 5 gallon waterer for the first time the other day. They're growing so fast!